


Breaking Free

by 20Zvorak17



Category: MacGyver (TV 2016)
Genre: Abusive Relationship, Escaping an abusive relationship, Everything that goes with an abusive relationship, Flashbacks to the relationship, I'm really neutral about Desi, If any of that is triggering for you don't read, Inspired by a song but not a songfic, Mac Has PTSD, PTSD, Recovery, She feels one dimensional, Skittish behaviors, So I'll be granting her wish of keeping distance unless the writers change my mind, content warning, seriously
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-24
Updated: 2019-02-24
Packaged: 2019-11-05 01:22:14
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 460
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17909330
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/20Zvorak17/pseuds/20Zvorak17
Summary: They still get to talk once a month but there's a hole where Jack used to be and Luke seems to fill it. Everything is great until it isn't anymore. Can Mac escape the cycle and move forward?Please, please read tags. There are lots of flashbacks, acute stress disorder, some PTSD and I don't want to trigger anybody.





	Breaking Free

Mac fixes things. It's what he does. Give him enough time, let him try and he can improvise his way out of anything, fix anything. So he knows, he  _knows_ that he can fix this thing with Luke. He can be what Luke needs, can be better, can make it like it was before. 

He has to do it fast, too, because there are only so many excuses for black eyes, split lips and necklaces of bruises, and Riley'd heard them all by the time she turned thirteen.  She watches Mac, too carefully, more so than she had right after Jack had left, even. And Mac might have himself convinced that this is just a rough patch, hard time, these things happen, but he's pretty sure Riley won't see it that way, not after what she went through with Elwood.

And he knows how it looks, right, and he knows what Jack what would say if he were here to see it. He does. But if Luke didn't care would he make Mac's favorite breakfast for him? Buy his favorite cookies? No, if Luke didn't love him surely he wouldn't do so many nice things for him.

Still, dabbing concealer over most of his neck to cover finger-shaped bruises is not a pleasant experience, nor is it horribly effective. It's not quite the right shade and if anyone is looking (Riley) they might notice. And how is he going to explain that  Luke just simply lost his temper to someone who doesn't know Luke all that well?

_Just lost his temper?_ And okay, apparently his subconscious sounds like Jack which is weirdly reasonable.  _You think this somehow marks the boundaries of what he'll do?_

Mac argues with himself, tells himself he can fix this, he just needs a little more time, to try a little harder.

_Wait any longer and he'll kill you, Mac,_ says the Jack voice and Mac imagines swatting it like a fly.

_Not true, not true, not true_ , he chants mentally, and thinks about the look on Luke's face when he saw the bruises, how he'd cried a little, _he loves me_.

 

 

Riley notices the moment she sees him at the Phoenix. Her face scrunches angrily and then smooths out in a second. She watches out the corner of her eye all through the briefing, squeezes his hand for just a moment on the jet. "You don't make him like this," she tells him gently, "just like my mom didn't make Elwood the way he was. He had to decide to be different for himself." Before he can get defensive, Riley is up and moving but her words stick in his head.

_Why do you make me do this Mac?_

**_You don't make him like_ this.**


End file.
